


Child of Mine

by Purpleichor



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: F/F, F/M, I'm begging you, Kandreil is whipped for their baby daughter, Let them HEAL and LOVE and BE LOVED, M/M, Maybe OOC, Multi, Other, Trans Male Character, do i care?, no, please, she's precious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:13:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27567301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purpleichor/pseuds/Purpleichor
Summary: She hugs him, her little arms around his neck, black hair touching his jaw. It tickles a little, but he couldn't care less. She smells like sweat and baby shampoo and Neil's chest burns.He loves her. He loves her and he asks himself how he didn't before.
Relationships: Kevin Day/Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Neil Josten, Kevin Day/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 28
Kudos: 89





	1. 4 months

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo
> 
> I thought about this for a really long time and now that I'm having less load from school I thought "Why not?"  
> Besides, Ellie would beat my sorry ass if I didn't post anything after teasing her for so long so here it is.  
> There's probably a lot of mistakes since English is not my first language and a tend to let things pass even when I look very carefully (probably adhd’s fault this bitch) so forgive me in advance.  
> I had another fanfic here but I wasn’t satisfied with the way it was going, the plot was a bit of a mess and just everything was bothering me, so it’s gone. Maybe I’ll fix it and post again one day. For now I’m just going to concentrate on our baby Kayleigh.  
> Thank you for reading.

With time and therapy, Andrew is not prone to react violently at being touched in his sleep anymore. So this time, when someone shakes him awake, his only reaction is open his eyes with leisure and stares at Kevin’s sleeping face while he process Neil’s voice and the baby crying right next to him.

When he finally looks over, Neil’s standing next to the bed, Leigh in his arms, crying her lungs out. Andrew sighs at the apologetic look in the other’s face and raises his arms to take the 4-month-old while he gets up from the bed. He doesn’t even look at Kevin again, knowing he would sleep like the dead even if there was an earthquake, especially after spending the day running around with Leigh while he met and talked with his team about coming back. Andrew is not happy with the prospect of having to find a babysitter, even less with leaving Leigh with them all day long while the three of them play, but they’ll have to and soon with the Moriyamas axe hanging over Neil’s and Kevin’s head, even more after the year Kevin had to take off. It will be really hard, but they’ll manage. It’s not the hardest thing they have ever done. Probably.

Looking at Leigh’s bright green eyes as she stares at him, he’s not so sure.

He’s also not sure of how Neil managed to make such a mess of the kitchen. There’s formula all over the counter, two bottles in the sink and water on the floor. He stares at Neil, hoping to get an explanation on why it looks like a hurricane passed though the place.

Neil doesn’t look twice while he tries to organize things a little before trying to make another bottle. 

Andrew never liked to have to wait for answers. “So?”

“So what”

“What about this mess?”

“She wouldn’t stop squirming.” Neil stares at the baby with something that looks a bit like resentment. “I couldn’t do anything with her squirming like that.” 

Leigh presses her head in Andrew’s chest and he uses the hand that was in her back to cradle her head gently. He decides not to say anything on how she’s never so agitated with Kevin or Andrew and this is probably the result of Neil not being around for so long and Kayleigh not being used to him. He also doesn’t comment on how he could simply have called one of them instead of making this mess and resent the baby who doesn’t have any fault in all of this. 

It takes practically no time for the bottle to be done after that and Neil gives it to Andrew without another word. It’s not difficult to carry the baby and bottle to her room, leaving Neil to sort out the mess. He doesn’t spare another glance to Andrew, and Andrew finds it best. Another one of that look in their direction would lead to a discussion Andrew is not willing to have at 3 o’clock in the morning and a hungry baby in his arms. 

Leigh’s room is purple colored and straight out of pinterest. The only discrepancy being a trio of orange stuffed foxes with his, Neil and Kevin’s numbers from their Palmetto days. The girls, Abby and Betsy went all out when they got the green pass to decorate the room since neither he or Kevin were in the right mind to do it. It also counts the fact that she is probably the only child they’ll ever have, so why not spoil her a little bit? He’s not going to complain, especially considering the nursing chair Betsy got that feels like he’s sitting on a cloud. He’s not going to complain.

It doesn’t take long for Leigh to sleep, all worked up from crying and probably from the fact that it is the middle of the night. Andrew puts the bottle on the floor as soon as she finishes and starts rocking gently while he observes her. Her dark hair, small nose and big cheeks. One of her hands in curled on his shirt and Andrew never loved someone like he loves her. Her nose scrunches up a little just like Kevin does sometimes and he adores, adores and adores her.

It takes a lot of effort to put her in her crib and go back to bed, but he manages. Kevin and Neil are there and Andrew pretends he doesn’t notice that Neil is pretending to sleep. When he lays down, Kevin moves closer to him and asks him if Leigh is okay.

“Obviously or I wouldn’t be here.” There’s huff and soon Kevin is sleeping again. Andrew stays up a bit more thinking. When he turns to sleep, he passes his arm over Kevin and touches Neil’s back. He can see the other becoming less tense with the touch.

He doesn’t remember falling asleep. One minute he’s staring at Kevin’s face and Neil’s hair and the other there’s Kevin coming into the room with Leigh in his arms. He gives her a little smooch in the cheek that gets him a laugh and sits next to Andrew. Leigh smiles when she sees him, almost throwing herself in his lap as Kevin and Andrew share a kiss.

“It’s almost like she didn’t see you just now.” Kevin says as he puts the baby on Andrew’s stomach. She tries to lift herself on her elbows and Kevin looks endeared. Andrew knows that she’s old enough to do it, but it still impresses them. Everything she does impresses them, really. “What does he have that is so cool, hm, Kitkat?”

“It’s because I’m the favorite, right?” She does a little “ba” sound and he considers it an agreement. “And are you really going to call her that? It’s a food.”

“Don’t talk like that, it’s cute. We would call her Day-Minyard if it were you.”

Andrew doesn’t respond as he plays with her. He puts her seated and she starts munching on one of her hands. He kind of dreads the moment she decides to touch him with the saliva coated hands, but the image is cute nonetheless. 

It takes a second more to register that Neil is not on the room. He’s barely home nowadays, and Andrew didn’t expect him to be there after the feeding the baby fiasco, but it still feels horrible. He would never want to go back to the place where he could only feel numbness, but at moments like this, he wonders.

He knows the answer, but asks anyway. “Where is he?”

Kevin sighs before responding. “He was already out when I woke up.” None of them says anything for a moment. Leigh keeps moving on top of Andrew. “It can’t go on like this, Andrew.”

“I know.”

“We barely see him anymore.”

“I know, Kevin.”

“What will be of Kayleigh seeing him like this? He’s a stranger for her, Andrew. She doesn’t even like when he holds her.”

“Kevin,” Andrew sits up, putting the baby to lay belly-up on the bed. She tries to roll over and Andrew holds her ankle, just for precaution. “It’ll be okay. He’s trying. It’s a lot of work and a long way but, hey,” Kevin, who was looking at the baby, looks back at him and Andrew hates the sadness in his eyes. “He came back. I’m not letting him run away again, I promise.” He prefers not to mention the night. The intention was good and Andrew’s proud of Neil for trying but, well.

Kevin doesn’t say anything and there’s an almost-not-there change, but it’s better than nothing or the crying from before. He takes Leigh again and turns to Andrew again. “It’s 7:30. You should get ready to go to practice.” 

Andrew sighs as Kevin leaves the room. He looks around again thinking about all this mess.

Kevin is right. They can’t continue like this. They have to fix this now while they have time, before Kayleigh starts to grow and question things. They promised Wymack she would grow in a healthy home, and she will.

He can hear Kevin talking with their ‘Kitkat’ and sighs again as he gets up from bed.

This is not so bad, not compared to what they survived. If they went through that, they can go through this.

Or at least he hopes so.


	2. 7 months

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey babies
> 
> Thank you for all the love you sent me! I'm really happy you liked 💜
> 
> Here's another chapter, hope you enjoy!

It’s the middle of the night when Neil enters Kayleigh’s purple colored room.

It’s a cute room, from his limited experience. Full of toys and shades of purple that should be tiring to look at, but it isn’t. He doesn’t have any complain, and even if he had, he wouldn’t say it out loud.

_Should have stayed if you wanted to have a say on things_ , Andrew said the first time Neil had given a negative opinion on something regarding Kayleigh. Neil could see he regretted it to some level, but not totally because it’s the truth.

Neil walks towards the crib in the corner of the room at a slow pace, like he always does when it comes to her. Walking or moving slowly, like he’s preparing himself for a bomb to explode. He keeps repeating to himself that she’s just a baby, she wouldn’t cause any harm.

_Except she did cause harm,_ he thinks and even though Andrew gave up on his knifes years ago, this kind of shit would get Neil stabbed in less than a second. Neil knows he’s in the wrong in blaming her for something that it’s entirely his fault, but he can’t help think everything started with her. They were living just fine, all the three of them playing for teams in the same city after so many years trying, living in the same apartment and finally having the comfort of each other’s presence at an arm reach. Kevin had decided to have his hysterectomy and everything was planned and going according to the plan for the first time in their lives.

And then there was Kayleigh and Kevin had wanted her and Andrew, who never showed any sign of being interested in having kids, had also wanted her. But Neil didn’t. He didn’t and suddenly he didn’t fit with them anymore and then he ran.

_You really didn’t want her or were you just scared?_

His hands are shaking a bit when he gets to the crib. He takes a deep breath before looking. Inside of the crib, a very much awake Kayleigh stares at him. Neil remembers the first time he saw her. Barely a month old, so small and frail he was afraid to break her if he touched her. He didn’t until she was 2 month old and didn’t hold her until she was 3.

It’s really different when it’s your child, isn’t it? Kids are not uncharted territory for him. He took care of the foxes’ child bunch several time, there is a child shaped space in his arms, a place where Kayleigh never seems to fit in. Even though he held all the other foxes’ kids since they were born, the thought of holding someone so small that was his own blood (could, could be his own blood) was terrifying, but not as terrifying as the prospect of having to raise this tiny human being into a functional and healthy adult.

Neil knows where this comes from. This fear, this rejection.

Even being dead for years, Nathan still has his claws deep in Neil’s guts.

It feels like he can never escape him.

Kayleigh is still staring at him. She does that a lot and sometimes it freaks him out a little bit. At times, Andrew does the same thing, stares at you like he’s looking into your soul, like he’s analyzing what it is made of. But she’s a baby and has no business doing it at 7 months.

Neil remembers of that tale about kids and animals being able to feel someone’s aura, being able to feel if they’re good or bad.

_Can you really feel it?_

_Can you see my soul? My blood or what I’m made of?_

_Can you see how dirty it is?_

Kayleigh continues to stare at him and Neil feels a little stupid. This is not something he should be thinking, not something he should be thinking in his kid’s room in the middle of the night. There’s no point of thinking it anyway. He’s not going to receive the answer he’s looking for until well into the future. And the future is what he is scared of.

So what does he do? Stay? Run again?

No, he can’t run. He promised Kevin and Andrew he wouldn’t do it again and he’s not sure they would be willing to forgive him a second time after he fucked up so monumentally.

Kayleigh is quiet in her crib and Neil puts a hand in her belly and rubs, like he’d seen Andrew do several times. One of her hands grabs at the sleeve of her shirt but other than that, she remains quiet. She doesn’t get fussy with him anymore, except when she’s particularly grumpy. She got used to him, which was a relief, kind of.

When the itchy to run appears, he thinks if it wasn’t better if he had just remained a stranger.

He shakes the thought away and continues to caress her until she sleeps. There's warmth in his chest as he looks at her face.

He’s scared. He’s very scared and he doesn’t know how not to be.

It’s the middle of the night, and Kevin watches Neil in Kayleigh’s room from the baby monitor.

Things were better than a couple of months before, infinitely better than it was when Neil came back. At least the passive aggressive behavior coming from Andrew was gone, but things were still strange. Kevin held back all the anger and frustration at Neil for several months because he had other things to worry about, but sometimes, when he’s feeling particularly tired and Neil is cowering from him, he wants to lash out and dump all his pain that was buried on top of him, so Neil could experiment a little of what he felt. But it would also take just one look at him for the anger to vanish in thin air.

Neil is scared. He is so scared and it was so long since Kevin saw anything remotely close to it in his blue eyes that it terrified him. Neil is scared and Kevin doesn’t know what he is scared of and also doesn’t know how to make it better.

_It’s been years and I still don’t know how to read you._

_What is it that keeps you up every night?_

_You still don't tell us things. Why?_

Kevin pretends to be sleeping when Neil gets back to bed. When he lies down, Kevin rolls over and hugs him by the waist, his head on Neil’s chest, who puts one hand in his hair.

_Please, tell me._ Kevin tightens his arms around Neil’s waist, as if he’s afraid he’s going to disappear. He is. _Tell us. Let us carry it for you._

When the sun comes up, Kevin feels like they’re all drowning in the sea of unsaid things. Kevin is holding onto Andrew, who refuses to swim and Neil, who apparently doesn’t know how.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, some bits tell what happened and how things went down before this fic takes place. I won't be making flashbacks but I think everything will be quite clear.
> 
> Again, thank you for all the love you guys send me before.
> 
> See you.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, thank you for reading.  
> Meet on tumblr, also Purpleichor.  
> See you.


End file.
